


The Protector of Women

by unladylike



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Artemis is a meathead, Character Study, F/F, F/M, Hunters & Hunting, Mentions of Rape, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 12:36:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22778311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unladylike/pseuds/unladylike
Summary: Artemis finally meets with Hera about her future.
Relationships: Artemis/Iphigenia (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Artemis/Persephone (Lore Olympus), Athena/Hestia (Lore Olympus), Hades/Persephone (Lore Olympus)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	1. Feral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artemis finally meets with Hera about her future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently re-writing this story. I’m not a writer but I want to try because I love Artemis so much. The story will explore her beginnings and how she became a member of TGOEM, to the current storyline with Persephone. I’ve messed with the timeline a bit but I’m only going off what I know about Artemis from mythology and what we’ve read in LO.

Fifteen-year-old Artemis stood before the door of Hera and Zeus’s shared home. Her heart was threatening to burst out of her chest.

She had been dreading this appointment for weeks.

When Gods turned fifteen, they were eligible for marriage. Hera, Queen of the Gods and Goddess of Marriage, made it mandatory that they were to meet with Hera about their matchmaking options. Artemis had been postponing it but Hera was getting impatient. If only Leto was here, she always said the whole thing was ridiculous.

Before Artemis could knock, Hera opened the door. She wore a blue A-line dress, pinned to the left side of her dress was a large peacock brooch.

Hera smiled at Artemis, but she noticed it did not reach her eyes. “Artemis,” Hera said politely “So you finally came to see me, I was beginning to worry.”

“I was busy. It’s hunting season you know.”

Hera frowned. “Understandable but you do realize this isn’t the first time you’ve rejected my invitation?” 

Artemis scowled. “Yes, I’m sorry about that but I’m here now aren’t I?”

Hera nodded. “Of course. Please come in.”

While Hera was polite with Artemis, she always felt cold with her. Artemis suspected she never forgot about the incident with Queen Niobe.

Artemis followed Hera to her office; on the way there she noticed all the portraits of the Olympians hanging on the wall. Hera stopped to look at her portrait, “What an accomplishment, youngest Olympian to ever grace this wall” Hera said. Artemis felt a sense of pride. It was true; both her and her twin Apollo had already reached Olympian status. Aphrodite claimed this was “nepotism” on Zeus’s part but Artemis knew they had earned their status like everyone else. 

Hera turned to look at Apollo’s portrait for a moment. “He’s getting quite handsome... reminds me a lot of my husband when he was younger.”

Artemis heard that often about her twin. “Yeah, funny huh?”

Hera looked at Artemis carefully for a moment “Your mother is Leto correct? How is she?”

Artemis looked down at her shoes “She’s fine...was fine,” Artemis corrected herself. “She passed last spring”

Hera blushed, embarrassed for her mistake “I’m sorry I didn-“ 

“It’s okay” Artemis interrupted. Not many people knew about Leto’s passing. Shortly after Apollo and her were born, Leto isolated herself from the rest of Olympus. Artemis never knew why but her mother told her all she wanted was a “quiet” life away from Olympus. 

An awkward silence filled the room. 

Hera clasped her gloved hands together and smiled (rather forcibly) “Well then, let’s discuss your options. Shall we?”

Opening the door to her office, Hera went and sat in a tall white leather chair. Artemis sat in the seat across from her. 

“Now Artemis,” Hera began to sort through her file “Considering your status, I have come up-“

“Wait” Artemis interrupted. Hera put down her papers and looked at Artemis, slightly confused.

Artemis took a deep breath. “Hera, I need to be honest with you. I’m not here to talk about marriage, truth to be told, I’m not even interested in getting married. 

Rather than respond, Hera snapped her fingers and a lit cigarette appeared between her fingers. Hera took a long drag on her cigarette and exhaled a large puff of smoke before finally speaking “I’m offended Artemis, why not?”

Artemis never thought about marriage. Her mother never got married and it never bothered her either. “I just never met anyone I was interested in.” It was a lame answer but it was the truth. She knew some of the male gods her age-expressed interest in her but she ignored their advances.

Hera pursed her lips “You’re only fifteen Artemis, how do you know what you want?”

Clearly Hera was not going to back down but neither was Artemis. “I have plans. Ones that don’t involve finding a husband.”

Hera sighed and shook her head. “I’m not surprised Artemis.” She raised her right hand and snapped her fingers; suddenly a large book appeared. The book neatly fell on her desk; Hera opened the book and began to flip through the pages.

Artemis frowned, she didn’t know what the book was but from what she could see, there was lots of red ink.

Stopping at a page, Hera pulled a peacock feather pen out of her up-do and dramatically crossed out the page with her name on it. Glancing up at Artemis, her blue eyes narrowed “Why Leto permitted you to grow up the way you did is beyond me. You’ve always been a feral child Artemis.”

_Feral_. 

Artemis clenched her fists. Others before had called her feral but Hera made it sound especially insulting. She knew she grew up different from the other Gods. Leto raised her primarily to be a hunter, she interacted with animals more than people.

Artemis opened her mouth to yell but the crown that sat on Hera’s head reminded her who she was talking to. Closing her mouth, Artemis instead picked up her bag and got up from the seat.

“Thank you for your time _your highness_.“ She couldn’t wait to leave.

”Just a warning Artemis,” Hera leaned back in her chair and gave her a meaningful look before answering. “Better me than Zeus.”

Artemis felt her ichor run cold. She liked Zeus…from a distance. But she knew exactly what Hera meant. Although marriage was Hera’s domain, as the King of the Gods, Zeus had the authority to marry her off if it was needed.

Artemis hurried out the office, slamming the door behind her shut. She could have sworn she heard Hera laugh.


	2. Hestia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hestia isn't having the best day. 
> 
> Hello! I'm sorry if it seemed like I abandoned this fic, life got wild but I'll be back to updating this story!

Hestia slammed the phone down with more force than necessary. Despite her best efforts, Hestia was having a hard time finding new members for her organization The Eternal Goddesses of Maidenhood (TGOEM). The young goddesses of today seemed eager to join until she mentioned the “no dating” rule. After explaining the rules, she’d never see them again.

Hestia uncharacteristically slouched in her chair. After the war, she came up with TGOEM to prevent Zeus from marrying off goddesses without their consent. She thought she was doing something noble but the lack of members only confirmed what Hestia feared, that the whole idea was pointless.

Suddenly the phone rang and Hestia perked up. Maybe it was a potential member calling about a membership. Standing up ramrod straight now, she answered the phone, “Hello! Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood, This is Hestia speaking.”

Hestia could hear muffled laughter in the background before she heard a familiar voice speak “Hello Hestia, this is Aphrodite”

Hestia nearly fell out of her chair. Was Aphrodite finally joining the organization? For years Hestia relentlessly tried to get the goddess to join TGOEM. She tried to convince Aphrodite to change her title from the Goddess of “Love and Beauty” to the Goddess of “Self Love” to inspire others but Aphrodite only responded with a door slam to the face.

“Hello Dite, are you finally accepting my invitation?”

“Please stop calling me Dite Hestia, we’re not friends. And no I’m not calling about that, I’m actually calling because I wanted to share some news I heard about you.”

Hestia pursed her lips “Look Aphrodite, I don’t have the time to-“

“I heard Zeus wants you to close down your little organization…something about you not having any new members in a _long_ time.” Hestia could practically see the smirk on Aphrodite’s face.

Hestia took a deep breath before answering, trying to calm her rising temper. “There’ll be no need for that, we’ll get new members. We receive new applications every day.”

“Ha! Like that’ll ever happen. Face it Hestia, no one in their right mind is going to join your outdated virgin club.” _Click._ The phone went silent.

Hestia felt her anger rise and without warning she burst into angry blue flames. The next time she saw Aphrodite she was going to… Suddenly a wave of cold water drenched her. Blinking, Hestia looked up to see Athena standing above her with a bucket in hand and a concerned expression.

“I’m guessing that was Aphrodite?"

Hestia stared at her lap. She hadn’t lost her temple like that in awhile but she couldn’t believe Aphrodite! Athena sighed and handed Hestia a towel.

“Cheer up Hestia, we’ll get new members eventually! We just need to be patient.”

Hestia fought off the urge to roll her eyes. It was easy for Athena to say that, Athena was blessed with all the patience in the world. The phone rang again. Hestia snatched the phone off the receiver before Athena did.

“Aphrodite if you’re-“

“This isn’t Aphrodite. It’s Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt.”

_Artemis!?_


	3. The Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artemis thinks about her girls and makes plans for her future.

Artemis collapsed on her bed after she finished her phone call with Hestia. Her over the top enthusiasm had worn Artemis out and they hadn’t even met face to face yet! 

Hestia had repeated the words “role model” and “community” so many times in their conversation. Artemis had initially thought TGOEM was legal protection against Zeus but after there conversation there was much more to it. She had to be a role model now for other goddesses. Recruitment was especially crucial now that Zeus was threatening to end TGOEM due to a lack of new members. There was also the community aspect; she would need to “serve others” and that meant being an active participant in charity work. Hestia painted a simple life for Artemis, one that would require her to be selfless and most importantly single. 

The “no dating” rule was firm even though it was preventing new members from joining. Hestia believed men were a distraction from their mission. That was the only thing Artemis agreed with her during their entire 3-hour conversation. She was expected to meet them for orientation this Friday at 3:00pm. When Artemis asked if there would be any other girls there Hestia just asked Artemis to bring a snack to share. 

Artemis glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was late afternoon but Artemis didn’t have any plans. Her brother Apollo was most likely with Hermes but Artemis didn’t really feel like hanging out with them. The other goddesses of Olympus had her at arms distance. They liked to refer to her as a “meathead”. 

She wasn’t completely alone though she had the girls. Penelope, Clio, Callisto, Alexandria (Alex) and Demi were known as the “Hunters”. It wasn’t the most imaginative name but they were a loyal bunch. She still remembered the day she met them all. 

*Flashback

Artemis had been walking around the forests of Olympus when she heard a voice call her. 

“Great and powerful goddess Artemis! I have been on a perilous quest for many moons to find you and here you are! Praise the gods for leading me to you!” 

Artemis turned around to see a green haired forest nymph on her knees holding out a large honey cake in her hands. Artemis tried very hard not to laugh the nymph’s tone sounded very theatrical as if she was rehearsing lines from a play. Also “perilous quest?” if anyone needed to find Artemis all they would need to do is look for her in the forest. 

“Please accept this humble offering from me, a lowly forest nymph.” 

Artemis felt a blush creep across her cheeks as she reluctantly took the cake from her hands. “Oh…thank you but look you really don’t need to do all that.” At least the honey cake looked delicious, Leto always made it for her birthday. 

The nymph looked up at her with a confused look on her face. “But I do goddess! I am a nymph and you are a goddess. I must pay my respects before speaking to you.” 

Artemis gently set the cake beside her and pulled the nymph up from the ground. “Look let’s drop the formalities. If you need to ask me something, just do it.” She never agreed with how the gods of Olympus treated nymphs, particularly forest nymphs. They taught her the secrets of the forest and she was always thankful for their knowledge. 

The nymph rolled her shoulders back and looked at her straight in the eye before speaking “I want to learn how to hunt.” Artemis noticed her voice returned to normal. 

Artemis looked surprised “hunt?” she repeated. No one ever asked her for hunting lessons before. 

The nymph nodded. “Not just me though” She turned to look back at the forest and saw 4 other faces peek out behind a large tree. “My friends and I would like to devote ourselves to you in return for hunting lessons. 

The other nymphs came out from behind the tree, feeling braver as they began to spout the endless ways they could help her.”

“We could help you watch your hunting dogs!”   
“Watch out for predators while you rest!”   
“Sharpen your knives!”   
“We could even cut your bangs for you!” a shorthaired nymph chirped. 

Artemis self-consciously raised a hand to her crooked bangs. She hated making appointments so she would give herself a home haircut even though the results weren’t always good. “Even goddesses have flaws,” she thought to herself. 

As the nymph’s voices grew louder, Artemis raised a calloused palm and the nymphs fell silent, their eyes wide with anticipation. 

“Okay. I’ll teach you how to hunt but I’m warning you now, it’s not easy. You have to promise me you’ll work hard.” 

“WE WILL,” they all shouted “WE’LL BE THE BEST HUNTERS, THE BEST HANDMAIDENS YOU EVER HAD!!!!” 

Artemis covered her ears at how loud their voices were “OKAY!” she yelled. The nymphs shrank back at the annoyance in her tone. “Enough already! Be here tomorrow before sunrise. We’ll start with the basics.” 

The beginning was brutal. The girls were not only loud but they were clumsy. Callisto nearly shot herself in the foot with her arrow, Clio scared away the animals with her high-pitched voice and Demi cried the first time she shot a rabbit.   
But she was determined to turn them into good hunters. Despite their flaws, they sought her out to learn and she was not going to give up on them. Eventually through months of hard training, the girls turned into proficient hunters and she was proud of them. They were after all her girls. 

Artemis smiled at the thought of them. She was going to be meeting the girls tomorrow and she couldn’t wait to show them the new set of arrows she received. 

All would be well. Despite her encounter with Hera earlier, she felt like nothing else could ruin her week.  
Or she hoped anyway.


End file.
